×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Answerman - What's With All The Censorship Lately?


Goto page   Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:10 pm Reply with quote
In the end it's the creator's choice, sure, but you can't ignore how some of them are pressured into making those choices. There's a very vocal group calling for better treatment of women in media and while that is a good cause to get behind there's a subset who take things too far. Creators should be able to release whatever they please without having to worry about people grabbing torches and pitchforks.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1545
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:23 pm Reply with quote
What's being complained about here isn't censorship, and it isn't new. It's a basic part of the creative process that has existed since art began.

These issues are not a case of the government forcing a creator to change something (which is what censorship is.) This is a case of a creator using their free speech to decide to change THEIR OWN creation THEMSELVES. On a moral level, it's no different from a novelist changing the ending to his book before it's published, or that same novelist correcting a typo.

EVERY creator considers their audience, whether consciously or not. It's unavoidable. So the argument that this is some sort of self-censorship because it's being done to please a particular audience does not hold water. If that's the case, then EVERY game, movie, book, and song ever written is "self-censored" because at some point every creator asks themselves "what will the audience think of this?"

What's happening now is that the audience is more global and diverse than ever before, and, particularly in video games, creators are waking up to the reality that the stereotype of all gamers being young white males was never true. So they're doing what they've ALWAYS done: they're considering their audience in their creative choices.

Does it work? Well, Fire Emblem Fates is one of the fastest-selling 3DS titles ever and its sales have absolutely eclipsed those of its predecessor. Clearly, considering your entire audience -- not just the loudest, angriest, most harassment-prone members of it -- pays off.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Veniamin



Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Posts: 215
Location: Miami
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:25 pm Reply with quote
I haven't really bought any games or played any consoles in the past 20 years because of censorship. sure, it's their choice but I vote with my wallet always.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
H. Guderian



Joined: 29 Jan 2014
Posts: 1255
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Censorship doesn't have to come from the gov't.

If I said Napoleonic France was the Best version of France, and people shouted me down en masse. My opinion might not change, but in the future I might self-censor my own thoughts on the issue. On one hand, that's being mindful of others. On the other, I am still altering how I express my opinions due to external reaction. But which is it in these cases?

About games and anime changing for foreign markets, do they honestly believe they are being mindful of the foreign market's concerns? If they were being mindful from the start, they wouldn't have created something to step back on later. I support creators being able to say whatever they want. If they want to please everyone (a tall order to begin with), that should be part of the original vision.

These recent cases very much are self-censorship because they created whatever they created, and then went back on it. If they had originally created their works that way, we couldn't say they altered things, because that was their original form.

Has every creator considered their audience? Most, yes. But these are products they finished, and then went back on. While these are all usually tame examples (DLC outfits) in the case of the recent Fire Emblem, whole characters were watered down and made into caricatures. That wasn't in the same of 'considering the audience.' That was the localization team getting sloppy.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:39 pm Reply with quote
Wyvern wrote:
On a moral level, it's no different from a novelist changing the ending to his book before it's published, or that same novelist correcting a typo.


Maybe, but there is a difference between making a change because you think it improves your work versus making a change out of concern you'll piss off a certain group of people. One requires compromising your creative integrity.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
#854626



Joined: 04 Apr 2016
Posts: 171
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:41 pm Reply with quote
If embarrassment from other countries in the case, why do 90% of anime sexualize men and women under the age of 18? Here in USA where I am from, if you are caught being in a sexual relationship with someone under the age 18 you have broke the law. You can go to prison and all of that. It personally erks me to the point where I don't even watch certain animes that could have a real good plot otherwise such as my hero academia.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 983
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:46 pm Reply with quote
Localizations have existed since the dawn of time.

Nowadays people just knows thanks to Internet and overreact, because Internet loves overreacting.

Fire Emblem's reaction was especially funny, random nerds from the Internet actually thought that because they wouldn't buy the game it would fail because no awkward petting minigame.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ryomanagare



Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 69
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 12:59 pm Reply with quote
No it's a case of localization groups making changes to the game without the knowledge or consent of the original writers and developers.

When news of the removed content in the US release of Fates (removed and heavily altered support conversations, complete changes in characterization, removal of features) many of the developers posted comments like "why even bother releasing this then?"

The developers themselves don't see it as necessary. However companies like Nintendo don't actually know much about the American market, so they sell the localization job to a company that specializes in it. Any talk of agenda aside, said companies actually recieve money for every single item on the change list. They have a monetary incentive to change as many things as they can in the script and Nintendo trusts that every change is necessary.

Or are you telling me that altering a bisexual character to no longer have any romantic relations is necessary? Or removing all the romantic relations for Corrins male child? Making Hisame obsessed with Pickles? Removing references to Japanese foreign policy? Removing references to discrimination in the game world? Changing from Izana from a staunchly neutral territory with a peaceful culture into a land of hippies with a valley girl style ruler?

None of these added to the game experience, but I guess all that can be written off since "lol face petting!"
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
DmonHiro





PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:02 pm Reply with quote
#854626 wrote:
It personally erks me to the point where I don't even watch certain animes that could have a real good plot otherwise such as my hero academia.


What the HIFL are you talking about? Who is getting sexuallised in My Hero Academia?
Back to top
Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 983
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:04 pm Reply with quote
Ryomanagare wrote:
No it's a case of localization groups making changes to the game without the knowledge or consent of the original writers and developers.

When news of the removed content in the US release of Fates (removed and heavily altered support conversations, complete changes in characterization, removal of features) many of the developers posted comments like "why even bother releasing this then?"

The developers themselves don't see it as necessary. However companies like Nintendo don't actually know much about the American market, so they sell the localization job to a company that specializes in it. Any talk of agenda aside, said companies actually recieve money for every single item on the change list. They have a monetary incentive to change as many things as they can in the script and Nintendo trusts that every change is necessary.

Or are you telling me that altering a bisexual character to no longer have any romantic relations is necessary? Or removing all the romantic relations for Corrins male child? Making Hisame obsessed with Pickles? Removing references to Japanese foreign policy? Removing references to discrimination in the game world? Changing from Izana from a staunchly neutral territory with a peaceful culture into a land of hippies with a valley girl style ruler?

None of these added to the game experience, but I guess all that can be written off since "lol face petting!"


And the game sold a lot.

Call it Censorship if you wish, nothing can change the fact that most people doesn't care about the changes.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 1771
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:08 pm Reply with quote
#854626 wrote:
If embarrassment from other countries in the case, why do 90% of anime sexualize men and women under the age of 18?

Because it appeals to their target consumers in Japan. Different consumer markets have different rules & different tastes, & it's pretty normal for producers to tweak & edit their product to maximize potential positive exposure & sales. Of course the internet muddies this somewhat since now people can quickly find what content, if any, has been changed & spam message boards with their anger if they don't like the alterations. Not that appeasing some angry perv...purists will ever be a sounder business decision than making the necessary cuts to get on Steam, mind you.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ryomanagare



Joined: 14 Aug 2007
Posts: 69
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:09 pm Reply with quote
And thats a logical falacy. It doesnt make the action any less wrong.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Mr.Shonen



Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 269
Location: Brooklyn, NY
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:15 pm Reply with quote
DmonHiro wrote:
#854626 wrote:
It personally erks me to the point where I don't even watch certain animes that could have a real good plot otherwise such as my hero academia.


What the HIFL are you talking about? Who is getting sexuallised in My Hero Academia?


Didn't you know, the scene set womens rights back to the prehistoric kitchens?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address Yahoo Messenger
Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 1771
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:17 pm Reply with quote
Now that's an arse drawn by a hand that's never touched one.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Snakebit1995



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 842
PostPosted: Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:24 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
how can companies still think that they can get away with any form of censorship


I take a little issue with the person who asked the question using this line. I don't think the companies are Trying to pull the wool over the consumer eyes so to speak. They're just doing what they feel is necessary for a localization.

As others have said above what is being called Censorship is sometimes just Localization done to better appeal to a specific country. If you know Americans are averse to a potential Incestual relationship between cousins in Fire Emblem then you change in in the US to avoid an necessary conflict. The core of the game's story is the same, one side note was changed to avoid incident, that's totally fine IMO.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page   Next
Page 1 of 11

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group